Selling a 4 bed sandstone - advice needed!

Beeches3

hardpressed wrote: »

My opinion for what it's worth. Electric gates make me think it's not a very safe area. Kitchen is too small for a 4/5 bedroomed house, dining room needs to be next to the kitchen. From the pictures the back garden looks very small and the area outside the sitting room window is a mess. The garden is overlooked from the rear. I personally don't like Jack and Jill bathrooms. Sorry to be so blunt but I wouldn't be viewing.

Thanks hardpressed, everyone is entitled to an opinion and I'm trying to sell it so I welcome other people's perspective.
We've removed the the dining furniture from the"dining room" and now wish to market it as bedroom 5. Hopefully when I get the EA to add a plan and change some photos this week it will look a little better.

Lord_Baltimore

Houses valued between £400-500k seem the hardest to shift; they are certainly spending more time on the market down south. I think you'll have to be patient; it could be a year before you find the right person. Sorry, I don't mean to depress you but it's as well to get your mind set for the long haul. Good luck; I think we all know how frustrating selling can be.

Beeches3

Lord_Baltimore wrote: »

Houses valued between £400-500k seem the hardest to shift; they are certainly spending more time on the market down south. I think you'll have to be patient; it could be a year before you find the right person. Sorry, I don't mean to depress you but it's as well to get your mind set for the long haul. Good luck; I think we all know how frustrating selling can be.

Thanks Lord Baltimore...I think you are correct, gone are the happy days of buying and selling!! Patience is not one of my strong points:A...Thanks again

jamesmorgan

It is always somewhat simplistic to state that a lack of viewings indicates that a house is over-priced. As a seller you need to develop a detailed understanding of the statistics for house selling in your area. In particular you need to understand the following:

a) How many houses typically sell in your price bracket each year?
b) How many houses are currently up for sale in your price bracket?

In our town, there are typically only 1-2 sales in the price range £400-500K If there are 3-4 houses up for sale in this price range I would expect sales could take up to 2 years. From past experience this is not atypical. Houses do sell (and usually within 5% of asking price) but they take time. If I wanted a quicker sale, I would have to move the house into a completely different price bracket - so if trying to sell at £500K I might have to reduce to under £400K to find additional buyers. Once you get to £350K in our area there would be 100+ sales per year, so the market is much more dynamic and much more sensitive to smaller movements in price.

I suspect your key problem is that you have invested too much in the house so that it is now in a very slow moving price category. You may need to be patient and ensure that it is marketed as well as possible.

Beeches3

jamesmorgan wrote: »

It is always somewhat simplistic to state that a lack of viewings indicates that a house is over-priced. As a seller you need to develop a detailed understanding of the statistics for house selling in your area. In particular you need to understand the following:

a) How many houses typically sell in your price bracket each year?
b) How many houses are currently up for sale in your price bracket?

In our town, there are typically only 1-2 sales in the price range £400-500K If there are 3-4 houses up for sale in this price range I would expect sales could take up to 2 years. From past experience this is not atypical. Houses do sell (and usually within 5% of asking price) but they take time. If I wanted a quicker sale, I would have to move the house into a completely different price bracket - so if trying to sell at £500K I might have to reduce to under £400K to find additional buyers. Once you get to £350K in our area there would be 100+ sales per year, so the market is much more dynamic and much more sensitive to smaller movements in price.

I suspect your key problem is that you have invested too much in the house so that it is now in a very slow moving price category. You may need to be patient and ensure that it is marketed as well as possible.

Thanks jamesmorgan,
there are only a handful of high-end priced houses in my area...one even at offers offer 610K:eek:!! But you might be right, it's just going to take time and as previously mentioned patience is not my strong point!!

TBagpuss

Like others. I would be put off by the cast expanse of asphalt at the front, and the small garden, and the lack of a floor plan.

The house itself looks to be very well presented inside, although I agree with the poster who mentioned the mix of old and new - the interior seems mostly very modern - the listing doesn't really emphasize any period features which might remain. To me, the fact the the internal design, and the extension, are not in keeping with the age of the original house would be off-putting, but that is very much a matter of personal taste.

I di agree that as you are clearly selling at the top end of your local market, the house needs to be presented to reflect hat - turf and some colour in the rear garden, some planters or shrubs to soften the front. It looks as though the decking is in need to some TLC,too - is the varnish? really peeling everywhere or was it just drying after rain? If it doesn't need repainting then maybe a better photo would help.

If the 'study' leads into another bedroom I might label it as 'dressing room/study area to make this clearer.

good luck.

Beeches3

OK...spoke with the "EA" today and they're not prepared to do a floorplan and add a description, insisting that they've tried all sorts of marketing techniques in the past and this way work, just list the facts! I pointed out that it is clearly not working in this case and asked again if I could have this done, just to try it. Replied saying it isn't not having a floorplan that's the cause of no viewers, if someone was genuinely interested with or without they would still get in touch!! :wall::wall::wall:

How far can I push it?

AdrianC

Beeches3 wrote: »

How far can I push it?

"Excuse me, but I'm the customer here. Either there's a floorplan and a proper description going on there, or you're going to be releasing me from the lock-in period that I regret agreeing to. Which?"

silvercar

Beeches3 wrote: »

OK...spoke with the "EA" today and they're not prepared to do a floorplan and add a description, insisting that they've tried all sorts of marketing techniques in the past and this way work, just list the facts! I pointed out that it is clearly not working in this case and asked again if I could have this done, just to try it. Replied saying it isn't not having a floorplan that's the cause of no viewers, if someone was genuinely interested with or without they would still get in touch!! :wall::wall::wall:

How far can I push it?

Is this the Manchester EA?

orangeslimes

I have been looking at properties online to see what is around and the floor plan is always one of the first things I look at (after seeing its in the right kind of area and price bracket) because I don't really care too much about the decor, but I want to see how much space I am getting and how it is laid out. Saying that I reckon your major problem is that not too many people want a £400,000 house in Airdrie.